The Internet is a massive network of networks in which computers communicate with each other via use of different communication protocols. The Internet includes packet-routing devices, such as switches, routers and the like, interconnecting many computers. To support routing of information such as packets, each of the packet-routing devices typically maintains routing tables to perform routing decisions in which to forward traffic from a source computer, through the network, to a destination computer. In such networks, Virtual Private Network (VPN) protocols are frequently utilized in day-to-day digital communications. Virtual private networks are secure communication systems spread across a large network environment (e.g., the Internet), and are often used within a company, or by several organizations, to transfer data confidentially over a publicly accessible network. VPN message traffic can be propagated over a public networking infrastructure on top of standard protocols (e.g., multi-protocol label switching “MPLS”), or over a service provider's private network with a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider.
Enterprises have been rapidly deploying VPN networks using site-to-site models such as Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN) or Global Key VPN (GKVPN, also referred to as Group Key VPN) technologies. The GKVPN framework is typically implemented in the form of secured multicast or Dynamic Group VPN (DGVPN) technologies. Generally, such conventional VPN architectures include a key server that manages the deployment of group keys (e.g., rekey data) within the VPN to authorized VPN participants, or group members. As such, conventional key server protocols provide for various means of updating and distributing group keys within a dynamic VPN network.